Autoglass pioneers ‘self-repairing’ glass… for phones

Autoglass® has today announced a scientific breakthrough by developing glass that repairs itself. Scientists at the company’s headquarters in Bedford have been testing the technology on mobile and smartphones over the last 6 months and come up with a glass which when broken or cracked automatically fixes itself.

John Aubrey, the lead scientist for Autoglass®, said, “For the last couple of years, particularly since interacting with fans on Twitter & Facebook, we’ve had countless requests to fix people’s cracked smartphone screens using the resin we use to mend vehicle windscreens and windows. Eventually, we realised we were potentially missing a trick, so started to work on a project under the radar to develop a revolutionary new glass which mends itself.

The self-repairing glass works by having a thin layer of a pioneering synthetic, silicon-like compound that turns to liquid on impact. It then fills the gaps and reseals the crack instantly. Autoglass® is calling the new resin, Pro-Fill SOA (Self-Optimising Adhesive).

Aubrey added, “It doesn’t work if the screen is completely shattered but for simple cracks, it works like magic. The next stage is to actually get it into phones, tablets or maybe even windscreens and we plan a series of meetings with manufacturers to discuss the way forward.”

For more information – take a look at this clip:

NOTE: Autoglass have spent years researching and developing special resins but unfortunately Pro-Fill SOA is NOT one of them. It’s an anagram of April Fools.